QLogic, Brocade team with NetApp for Fibre Channel over Ethernet

Announcements signal the first target storage array vendor to make FCoE a native part of their portfolio.

Developments of the week in storage

QLogic and Brocade teamed with NetApp this week to provide Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) host bus adapters and switches.

Nine data storage companies to watch

QLogic announced that its converged network adapters will be used exclusively in all NetApp storage arrays – the FAS FAS3000, 3100, 6000 and 2050 Series arrays and the company's V Series storage controllers – and that NetApp will recommend the QLogic 8100 Series CNAs for FCoE server connectivity. As part of making the deal, NetApp required a single integrated chip design to simplify power, space and cooling requirements in both host computers and target arrays. This announcement supplements QLogic's FCoE strategy. In the past four months, the company delivered the industry's first single chip FCoE adapters, announced a design win with IBM for System x and BladeCenter servers, introduced a 10Gigabit Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) Pass-thru Module for IBM BladeCenter servers, and acquired NetXen, a 10G Ethernet manufacturer.

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QLogic and Brocade teamed with NetApp this week to provide Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) host bus adapters and switches.

Nine data storage companies to watch

QLogic announced that its converged network adapters will be used exclusively in all NetApp storage arrays – the FAS FAS3000, 3100, 6000 and 2050 Series arrays and the company's V Series storage controllers – and that NetApp will recommend the QLogic 8100 Series CNAs for FCoE server connectivity. As part of making the deal, NetApp required a single integrated chip design to simplify power, space and cooling requirements in both host computers and target arrays. This announcement supplements QLogic's FCoE strategy. In the past four months, the company delivered the industry's first single chip FCoE adapters, announced a design win with IBM for System x and BladeCenter servers, introduced a 10Gigabit Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) Pass-thru Module for IBM BladeCenter servers, and acquired NetXen, a 10G Ethernet manufacturer.

Brocade announced an OEM deal with NetApp for its new Converged Enhanced Ethernet/FCoE blade for the Brocade DCX backbone switch – an end-of-row switch that complements its top-of-the-rack FCoE switch -- and for NetApp to OEM Brocade's 8000 switch and its Brocade 1010/1020 converged network adapters.

Both announcements are significant in that they signal the first target storage array vendor to make FCoE a native part of their portfolio.

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Deni Connor is principal analyst for Storage Strategies NOW and host of both the Masters of Storage and Masters of Servers Solution Centers.